I love popcorn, and eat it all the time. I often use a hot oil popper, sometimes use microwave. Lots of butter is important, but the most critical ingredient is the Flavacol. That's the orange salt used at movie theaters and in other big popcorn machines. That stuff is great. Put it right in with the oil at the beginning and it makes the best popcorn.

Butter and sea salt make what my daughters insist is the best popcorn ever. Give it a try. Bragg’s makes quality yeast in a nifty shaker bottle. Side benefit — nutritional yeast has large content of complex B vitamins — a natural antidote for hangovers.

Yes, they have a program going that you can send in your gun and they will fix everything. Takes like 4-6 weeks from what I heard, which means you'll need to buy a back up firearm while you wait. Oh darn.

My wife's wedding present to me was a G19 (yeah yeah, I know, screw Glock, or you love Glock, we don't need to get into that). When my groomsmen saw that it pretty much put her in the wife hall of fame.

I'm very eager to shoot the P365. I have the S&W Shield 9mm and the Glock 19. I use the Shield for when I'm being a little more active and its very comfortable for that but I have to be honest, I hate that stock trigger. I know I can upgrade the trigger. I don't love the G43, so I'm very interested in the P365.

I actually like the G19 stock trigger. My favorite trigger is the HKVP9, which is on my "to buy" list. I want to get my hands on the Walther PPQ because I've heard that is the best stock trigger out there.

BTW - you found yourself a keeper in your wife. That is a great wedding gift.

Bought a pair of jeans from Mott & Bow for roughly $100. Best pair of pants I've ever owned by far. Super comfortable with a fabric that has a little stretch to it. They do not wrinkle AT ALL. As long as they stay clean you can literally wear them ten times without washing them. They have three levels of fit, from skinny on up. I bought the same waist and inseam as I normally do and they fit perfectly.

I gave myself a 65" OLED 4K TV and an Xbox One X (for the 4K output) as a combo holiday/birthday present, and they arrived right before Christmas. I spent the break watching sports and playing games. It was ... it was awesome.

In possibly related news, I gained more than a couple pounds over the holiday break.

Wow, I'm still using a 50" Pioneer plasma from about 2005. Only one dead pixel (shows up as bright green), otherwise it seems to work fine. But I've really been hoping that it would crap out soon so I'd be forced to go get a new set.

They have 3 tiers. I'm a tech geek and the M55 is the sweet spot (middle tier). The lower (E55) is a bit more for what you pay for but undeniably cheap. M55 has no built in antenna tuner and not the fanciest software or the absolute thinnest TV but reviewers like the picture and that's all I care about. It was a huge upgrade for me but probably anything this gen would be for me.

Check the reviews on the Vizio E-series. One I read clearly stated that the larger displays are higher quality, in relative terms, than the smaller ones. I'm not sure which end the 55" ends up. They're all in the budget category, though.

Source: Did a lot of research before Christmas, decided to stick with my old Insignia 50" for a while to see how things evolve in the next year or two.

10 Gallon nano reef tank. The kids have allergies so this was a safe "pet". We have spent more money than I expected to on this little endeavor. Really cool though. Growing a bunch of corals and have a couple clownfish in there.

When your kids get older, despite their allergies don't give up on dogs. My daughters had terrible allergies, but they were fine with poodles. Stormy, a black miniature, was a wonderful pet, amazingly smart and good natured. My daughters loved him, as well as the two other miniature poodles we've had.

...but you have to be all over the water levels...because the smallest change can have major affects on tank. Bigger tank is awesome because there is a lot more margin for error...and there are some amazing fish and corals that just don’t work in the nano. Both have pros and cons...but they are super relaxing and enjoyable when the tank is running smoothly. Enjoy!

Make sure to keep an eye on the clownfish so they don't go missing. I saw a documentary about them once. One of them got lost and holy moly it was difficult to find them. There were so many hijinks along the way.

I have one at home and one at our cottage, and the heating bills have come down dramatically. I opted to set a schedule at home but it still learns and will try to reduce your temperature. When going up north we can start warming the place before we get there. Love the simplicity and the functionality.

Nice choices. I'm a sucker for amps with meters and Marantz makes some great stuff.

Also love Accoustic Research. Just sold my Dad's AR-3as as he was downsizing. It was tough to part with them as they still sounded great, but I had no room in my system having just bought new Dynaudios, and eventually they will need to be re-foamed which isn't my cup of tea.

The good news was I essentially was able to buy him some sweet used Sonus Faber bookshelfs and an amp for what I sold them for - amazing how much value some vintage audio has held.

the marantz has a warmth to the sound i don't get through my harman kardon system. i have side by side modern vs vintage systems with the vintage specifically for vinyl and the harman kardon set up for tv and digital audio.

when i turned the marantz on for the first time after getting it the sound made me giddy like a little kid. picked up the AR 4x speakers for not much and the bass on them is phenomenal for what is essentially a large bookcase speaker. playing miles davis or coltrane through these just blows me away.

I've had it for maybe 8-10 years and love it. I think the zone players are called the "Connect" now and were great if you had any existing stereo equipment.

The only "issue" i have with Sonos is that Pandora used to be commercial free when I first got Sonos, then around 3-4 years ago the commercials began but they aren't nearly as bad as the Pandora commercials on a phone app.

Yes, quite a bit. I live in CA. I live in the city, but friends in foothills(20mins). Lots of space, scenery. Look down to the valley, trees. My camera is 4k and it doesn't show up that great on my ipod that is connected to controller and drone, but once you download it, its really clear. I put a 64mb card in and I haven't filled it up yet.

You haven't flown it yet? I know its been cold. Lots to learn but learning curve is fast. You'll get used to it fast.

I'm not sure about the spark, but Phantom can fly by GPS so it self corrects for winds and stays pretty stable. I was surprised. I flew it manually in the wind and it was a chore to keep it in one spot. Especially at 100ft or so.

For my birthday last week I got a Finish Line gift card and bought a pair of Adidas Ultra Boost. I know Adidas sucks, especially around these parts, but those shoes are the greatest pair of shoes I've ever worn, love them!

The Switch has two all-time great single-player titles and a bunch of great multi-player stuff. The multi-player flexibility is the strength of the system, IMO. If you like doing stuff with friends, or pulling out a game with your kids, it's awesome. If you just game alone, you have to decide whether the experience and options offered by VR (limited, if I recall, but don't take my word on it) are better than a system which looks like it's in for the long haul and has two of the best games every made available to play right now.

I'm not kidding, either. Both Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey are as exhilarating and satisfying as anything I've ever played, and I've been playing since the NES. As a busy adult I rarely have time to play a game all the way through anymore; I usually want stuff to pick up and spend a half hour on. I've beaten both of these, and my wife (not really a gamer) has completed 100% of Odyssey.

New fishing license. I also reserved a room for a buddy and I to have an ice fishing weekend on the Mississippi river which is halfway between us. That will be fun. We duck hunted in South Dakota in November and had a blast.

Two Ecobee 4 smart thermostats on Black Friday for a grand total of $48 and change after rebates. That came out to just over $24 EACH. Regular price is $249 each, so about 90% off.

Burton Imperial snowboard boots in late December. MSRP is about $340, but I got a previous year model at my local shop for $250. Super comfortable and warm. I've ridden in them twice so far and I really like them. Granted, it was only in Wisconsin, but they're nice

I've been trying to shop more conscientiously the last few years. I try to buy organic/free range food (can't go vegetarian), bike to work, and try to think about things like where the product is made and from what, even what the CEO stands for (good bye Jimmy John's).

So I was pretty happy I resisted the urge to buy a pretty nice leather jacket for a great deal. Very tempting but it was still a lot of money and I would look stupid in a leather jacket anyway. But there is a ton wrong with leather products between the tanning process and that most countries don't enforce any anti cruelty laws. I actually just replaced a dying leather belt with one made from cork I am intrigued by.

I also got a Google home over the last few months along with some smart bulbs and a nest thermostat. Its a lot of fun and weird how laborious flicking on a light switch feels now.

is usually worse for the environment and free range is sometimes worse for the animal because they have restrictions on providing shelter during bad weather. Depending on your goals it's worth looking into, lots of marketing/scam behind many of these labels.

What standard/s are you using here? This “organic is a scam” thing is often used a scare tactic by those in agribusiness. At least they’re trying. And free range is worse for the animal because there’s no shelter? You’ve got to be kidding me. Do you know the conditions animals are raised in in sheltered CAFO’s? (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations)

As far as fun things go I gotta go with my new Mug Club membership at Founders. For more practical purchases I have to go with new tires for the S10. I had let my old ones go pretty far. Handles like a totally different car on snow.

the only problem is when the d-bags from the crossfit studio next door borrow them and dont return them. Apparently they are too tired from their massive gainz from all the selfies they take while talking about their next lift. Keyword is talking because I never see them doing any actual lifting.

I dont have a problem with crossfitters in general just the ones that borrow equipment and dont return it when done.

InstantPot.. An amazing slow cooker/pressure cooker combo kitchen gadget that allows multiple types of cooking in one handy gadget. Versatile and fast... And I've made some really great food in it. Its faster than a slow cooker.. You can sautee, cook rice, steam veggies, make oatmeal, make yogurt from scratch.... Best dishes I've make were crispy carnitas, and a chicken/veggies in peanut sauce.

Google mesh wifi was a great purchase. It's about $300 but it tripled my wifi speeds, and--most importantly--it made it so I can get perfect wifi in my basement. Since my basement TV is Netflix/Hulu/Amazon only and it's also where my home office is, that's critical.

Nothing gimmicky per the pros. Look up "Aso break in Wilson A2000" on You Tube. This guy will show you the best way to do it in a 4 minute video. It really involves just playing with it and beating the pocket with a mallet. Never use a microwave or an oven!

If you ever need a quick break in Dick's has a machine that does it in about 30 minutes. My daughter's glove crapped out at a tournament and luckily they were able to get her glove in the machine (they originally said overnight) and it came out really soft and she played a few hours later. A bit expensive but was great.

I thought about going with one of these but went with a big green egg instead. I know they are more expensive but I don’t regret it at all. I wasn’t much of a cook before and I use it all the time for grilling and smoking. I have seen a few bit barrels and they seem to work well. If you are handy, there are a couple of websites out there that show you how to make and customize your own.

I read Starting Strength a while back by Mark Rippetoe. Got a Valor Fitness BD-33 power rack and some bumper plates from Vulcan Fitness. Started the SS program the first of the year.

I decided last June that I finally needed to do something about being overweight instead of just saying "I need to do something". I lost 30 pounds by the end of the year just by using My Fitness Pal to track what I eat (going from 205 to 175, and I'm 5'8"). Looking forward to more progress this year with SS. My wife also got me the book Practical Programming for Strength Training so I am reading it now. I highly recommend both books for anyone looking to get into strength training.

Mostly Bourbons and whiskeys. Pappy, Stagg Jr,Weller 107, lots of others. I have more good booze than I can ever drink. Figure my friends can fight over it when I leave this world. Did bust open a JD rye last night, liked it alot.

I'm putting together a new sound system 1 piece at a time because my wife doesn't get it. We had to have the fine china that we've used 2 times, but god forbid we enhance the TV that we watch every fucking day.

My husband and I just got a new bed. We went from queen to king, and got one of those newfangled mattresses that come in a box. It's a latex foam hybrid. We also got an automatic base so we can raise the head and/or the foot of the bed. It's pretty fantastic.

By far my best purchase of 2017 was going from a queen-size bed to a king-size bed. But man was it expensive. $2000 for bed, $1400 for mattress, $600 for bedding & pillows...that stuff adds up. I was $4k into it by the time we were done. I guess I do spend 8 hours/day on it...or, with kids, more like 5-6 hours/day.

Bought the mgowife a nice treadmill for Christmas so she can train for a few races while staying home with the mgokid. Allows wife stay fit and healthy and burn off steam before I get home. Greatly improves her happiness, which in turn greatly improves mine.

Got myself a Telecaster with a beautiful ash body, all clean and shiny wood, with a Peavy Delta Blues 30 watt tube amp. I had previously been an acoustic guitar man, exclusively, and this is a whole new aural world of sonic possibility -- it's gorgeous. Much good. Many joy.